Lick It Up Austin – Vegan Street Food Truck
Lick it Up is a vegan food truck with three locations in Austin! Edgar Delfin started Lick it Up in 2017 in El Paso, Texas. Edgar Delfin’s goal was to emulate traditional Mexican flavors and dishes while remaining 100% plant based. Edgar’s food is not only really tasty but it really popular too. Guy Fieri’s Diners Drive-ins and Dives television show has famously featured him as well as Vice. I personally don’t usually go for vegan restaurants, but Edgar really is cooking up delicious food out of his trucks.
Living Up To Their Name
What Lick it Up is most known for is the Carne Asada. The Carne Asada is a reconstituted Textured Vegetable Protein and features a blend of spices and sautéed vegetables. The imitation meat is jam-packed with flavor, and actually has a very similar texture to meat. They serve this in multiple forms too! My favorite is the Carne Asada fries, which are topped with vegan queso, tomatoes, avocado sauce, coconut crema, toreado, and the carne asada bland. I was skeptical about the idea of coconut crema on french fries at first. However, I find it was especially delicious and offered a light and creamy contrast to the dish.
We also enjoyed the Gorditas which came in a corn masa shell that was perfectly crispy on the outside and soft in the middle. You fill it with your choice of protein (we picked carne asada), black beans, shredded cabbage, sliced tomato, coconut crema, avocado sauce and a choice of side. We got the crispy sauteed brussels sprouts which had great texture, and we dipped them in the spicy sauces on the side.
Lastly, we got to try the Tacos de Alambre, a serving that is build-your-own taco style. The dish was a heaping portion of carne asada with mushroom chorizo, green bell peppers, onions and tomatoes all covered in melted vegan cheese, served with avocado sauce, cilantro and lime. This is just another variation of a dish using their vegan carne asada. Lick it Up has other protein options too though. Lick It Up has the mushroom chorizo, Seitan Milanesa (which is like a breaded ‘steak’), and Adobada (which is ‘meat’ marinated in a red chili sauce). And of course, all of these are vegan as well.
A Plant-Based Future
The demand for vegan and vegetarian options has been increasing not only in Austin, Texas, but around the world. Lick it Up is a unique spot that maintains the flavors of Mexico throughout its menu. They stand out from others by managing to do all this sticking to only plant based options. I consider myself thoroughly impressed with how versatile plant based meat can be. Edgar at Lick It Up really knows how to create meatless options that remain true to the flavors of Mexico and are unarguably delicious.
